Friday, May 10, 2013

spent the afternoon visiting east bay salvage yards with a friend and while we didn't buy much we had fun and found some incredible gems from this incredible view above and hand carved wood trunks from India and crystal chandelier drops.

I went for a walk at lunch through one of SF's neighborhoods that is home to many Russia families. This was the first part of the city that I called home and it feels like the "old country" to me and the charm with baskets of potatoes and wooden boxes of produce that line the sidewalks outside humble markets full of chocolate, cheese, and cured meats from Russia. Refrigerators stocked with bottles of vodka and Russian being spoken by all it's hard to not be charmed and feel transported for a little while. It looks like the anchor has settled in as well and of course I'm always happy to see it and say hello. I hope to meet the sidewalk sailor someday. Oh, this tile mosaic rug/entryway is one of my favorites in the neighborhood and I use to go out of my way to see it when I lived nearby.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

working just a few blocks from the ocean and an hour+ for lunch I decided to go for a little hike by Sutro baths and watch the fog pass through the trees, waves crash along the shore, and tourists take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The light was filtered through trees and reflected off windowpanes. I love these masking tape poems that pop up underfoot. The artist is an older gentleman that carries his boombox, collection of sharpies and rolls of tape along and leaves a trail of smiles in his wake. Here's another favorite street name translate to Chinese.

the sun was electric and all the colors seemed to vibrate. The sticker art above reminds me of a dear friend that's living in Mexico, except she's anything but "pobrecita" a poor little girl. I pass this vibrant building often and love how it's almost a soft pastel when the sun goes down and the lantern cast a soft red/pink glow. Even the grates seemed full of colorful wrappers.

Inspired to make carmel.... again. I baked the shortbread alongside veggies for the week. I topped the shortbread with a little homemade caramel, let it cool and then topped it with cardamom spiced chocolate and then set some extra caramel to the side.

p.s. I used this caramel recipe from Ina Garten and a Donna Hay shortbread recipe that I can't find online now and too sleepy to type it from my cookbook, but really any basic shortbread recipe will work well. You can't really go wrong with butter, more butter, and chocolate.